"A message to America" (from a Briton)

.....Foley, 40, was kidnapped in northern Syria, according to GlobalPost, a Boston-based online publication....He had reported in the Middle East for five years....kidnapped and released in Libya.....Steven Sotloff, who appeared at the end of the video, went missing in northern Syria while reporting in July 2013......
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It is grim news for those who hope to halt the march of the Islamist menace by controlling immigration or through surveillance of citizens.  What would work (in a fantasy world) is a program in reverse brain-washing, but we are not there yet (and we dont want to fantasize about such evil things).

What you have is a greatly disaffected community of Islamists (nihilists??) who are born and raised in the West. They feel utter humiliation and helplessness because the Christian West (as they see it) dominates the world aided by Jewish money.
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A linguistics expert has told British radio station LBC that the masked IS militant who beheaded James Foley is probably from London.   

Claire Hardaker, a lecturer in Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University, said: We seem to have definitely southern vowels in there, we’ve got some interesting pronunciations - he says the word ‘Muslims’, he says it in quite an interesting way. You kind of use a ‘Muz’ sound and he’s doing a ‘Mus’ ...as in he does an unvoiced ‘s’ when he says it. 

We’re definitely looking at a British accent, from the south and probably from London. 
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These young turks also see (often justifiably) oppression of muslim populations everywhere: in South Asia, China, Russia, Indo-China, and Israel, but also (for Sunnis) in Iran, Syria, and Lebanon and ex-Russian-stans. Driven by the quest for purity they may even consider fence-sitters such as Pakistan as being insufficiently Islamic.

These folks dream of a Caliphate cockpit, the flight-deck from which to rule the world. They want to create a new global order. They are the new Siegfrieds and all they lack is a...dirty nuclear bomb. Be very afraid.
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Storming the Red Zone...with human shields?

.....Imran Khan’s terrible hunger for power is a frightening thing to see...his refusal to accept that system can only be improved, not torn down......More than convincing people of Nawaz Sharif being unfit to be Prime Minister, Imran has made a more solid case for why he should never, ever be awarded that mantle....
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We are outsiders...and this comment will probably give offense: Captain Sahib has gone completely bonkers. We agree with The Nation (Pakistan) editorial that Imran Khan should declare victory and go home.

It is bad enough that IK wears the mask of civil disobedience by urging his supporters to not pay taxes. Presently, just about 0.9% of Pakistan pays tax (he should know of this). How is such a step somehow enlightened?

But to encourage women and children to march to the Red Zone against the full might of the military...is insane. Add to this the crazy ultimatums. Nawaz Sharif has been asked to resign by Wednesday (Aug 20). What happens if he does not?
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12:55am DawnNews reported sources as having said that the Pakistan Army has taken charge of the Interior Ministry's control room. Former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah however has rejected the reports, saying that the Interior Ministry is still in charge of the control room.

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Sunil Dutta: super-cop

..I'm a cop....If you don't want to get hurt, don't challenge me....don’t argue with me.....don’t say I’m a racist pig.....don’t threaten that you’ll sue me and take away my badge.....don’t scream at me that you pay my salary......
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Sunil Dutta, a Professor of Homeland Security at Colorado Tech University, has been an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department for 17 years. The views presented here are his own and do not represent the LAPD.

Education

• M.A. Homeland Security, Naval Postgraduate School, United States Center for Homeland Defense and Security, Monterey, CA, (2012)
• Ph.D. Plant Biology, University of California, Davis (1995)
• M.S. Plant Physiology, University of Florida, Gainesville (1989)
• B.S. Botany, Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India (1986)

Background 

.....Dr. Sunil Dutta is a full time law enforcement professional working in Los Angeles.  He has been with the LAPD for sixteen years.  His assignments have included Watch Commander, Internal Affairs Investigator, patrol officer, and Collision Investigator.....Prior to joining the LAPD, Dutta was a scientist with a specialization in biochemistry (host-pathogen interactions, plant hormones, carbohydrate metabolism, and regulation of dormancy).  He is an amateur musician....

To be honest, once we recovered from the shock (that was an Indian speaking??), we were ready to admit that Dr Dutta has penned an impressive op-ed. Based on his bio, we guess that he hails from a Punjabi or Haryanvi background. He is the "first" Indian-American law and order conservative that we have ever heard from (or heard about). Also he is quite a sharp-spoken biologist (we know a few of them).

As for the rest, yes...excellent advice...for (black, brown) young males in the USA. When we first learned to drive it was drummed into our rebellious heads (incidentally, by a black tutor) that in case the police ordered you to pull over, you must come to a stop....slow and easy (with hazard lights ON), keep your windows lowered, and your hands visibly placed on the wheel at all times. 
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First among equals (men)

.....During Ramzaan, we’d call the Hindus and Christians over for aapam and curry...We shared our lives.....I sat up all night for Shivaratri.....Vilakkupara has a temple with Shiva  as the pratishtham (presiding deity).....all the festivities during Makara Sankaranti, I was part of all that..... 
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We would guess that the purpose of a "First Men in India" list (see below) is for scoring in a "general knowledge" or GK exam. A mind numbing exercise, if there was one.

The madness of GK exams is highlighted in a famous 1970s Bong novel - Jana Aranya by Shankar (Mani Shankar Mukhopadhyay), later a memorable movie by Satyajit Ray. The goal is to short-list nine out of 27,000 graduates. One question relates to a name that is possibly an Indian river OR a (eponymous) ship with the India navy. The examinees are confused, this is a public sector organization (owned by the government) held exam, hence the examiners will prefer the ship as the correct answer!!!

Now all lists are limited to a fashion and so is "First Men in India." It can be expanded (and cut short) in so many different ways. For example, we consider this of the utmost importance, that Abhinav Singh Bindra won the first individual gold medal in the Olympics (Beijing, 2008). If you have scored a once in a hundred year achievement, it deserves to be celebrated.
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Building Toilets not Really Useful?

Left, right, and toilets:

Most people in India defecate in the open. Most people worldwide who defecate in the open live in India. The diseases spread by open defecation kill hundreds of thousands of Indian children each year and stunt the physical and cognitive development of those who survive....The importance of removing faecal germs from children’s environments follows clearly from economists’ growing understanding of early-life human capital accumulation. Study after study is showing that exposure to disease and other health insults in the critical first months of life translate into quantitatively important lost productivity as adults (for a recent review, see Currie and Vogl, 2013). If children exposed to more open defecation grow up to be adults who earn less and pay less tax, open defecation is not only a health disaster but an economic one too.

Remember that 35% of Indian population is under 18. For this cohort time has nearly run out to make any meaningful intervention. So the "economic disaster" has largely already happened. The issue is reducing its severity and preventing its future occurrence.

Caste, Religion and Open Defecation

India’s race to build toilets failing as villages don’t use them:

When nature calls, the 26-year-old single mother and her four children head toward the jungle next to their farm of red and pink roses, to a field of tall grass, flecked with petals, where the 7,000 people of her village go to defecate and exchange gossip. 

“Only dalits, the lowest Hindu caste, should be exposed to excrement in a closed space, or city-dwellers who don’t have space to go in the open,” said Sunita, who uses one name, as she washed clothes next to the concrete latrine. “Faeces don’t belong under the same roof as where we eat and sleep.”

Muslim mortality paradox and the importance of sanitation for children:

In India, Muslim children are substantially more likely than Hindu children to survive until their fifth birthday, despite Muslim parents being poorer and less educated on average than Hindu parents. The phenomenon has been documented by numerous researchers over the past 20 years, including most recently by Bhalotra et al. (2010)....Though it is by now well-known that a substantial fraction of India’s population defecates in the open, without the use of toilets or latrines, what is less well-known—at least to those residing outside of rural India—is that Hindus are substantially (40%) more likely than Muslims to do so.... 

Analysing the three most recent rounds of the government of India’s nationally representative survey data, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) of India, we find Hindus are dramatically more likely than Muslims to openly defecate, meaning they self-report using a bush, field, or no facility rather than a latrine or toilet. In the three most recent waves of the NFHS, 67% of Hindu households report openly defecating, while only 42% of the relatively poorer Muslim households do so. This simple but dramatic fact is easily replicable using any Indian survey dataset that asks respondents about religion and waste disposal. 

To understand these high-level statistics in more depth, R.I.C.E. (Research Institute for Compassionate Economics) researchers in a separate study collected detailed information about behaviour and preferences towards defecation in rural northern India. This new dataset, online at squatreport.in, reveals that a substantial minority of Hindus who reside in household with a latrine still choose to defecate in the open: 25% of Hindus who own working latrines choose not to use them, compared with 10% of Muslims. Further, Hindus are more likely than Muslims to respond that open defecation away from the home is pure, while using a latrine near the home is not pure.

London- World City #1

......Beyond these traditional strengths, London has become Europe’s top technology startup center......upward of 3,000 tech startups.....Google’s largest office outside Silicon Valley......
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East or West....London is the best. Singapore (4), Hong Kong (6), and Dubai (7) are ranked ahead of Beijing (8, tie with Sydney) and Shanghai (19).  
Dubai ahead of Shanghai, really?

Frankfurt is the top rated city in Germany at a lowly #14. Mumbai (31) and Delhi (34) are the top-ranked cities in South Asia (in the future we may see Chennai and Bangalore on this list). Surprising to see Berlin (37) tied with Seattle and Tel Aviv.
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In order to quantify cities’ global influence, we looked at eight factors: the amount of foreign direct investment they have attracted; the concentration of corporate headquarters; how many particular business niches they dominate; air connectivity (ease of travel to other global cities); strength of producer services; financial services; technology and media power; and racial diversity. (Click here for a more detailed description of our methodology.) 
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Toilet Donation Services

A few questions and comments:
  
(a) Why did it take so long? Tata Consultancy Services has been a huge success story for some-time now and Jairam Ramesh has been talking about toilets before temples since a long time back.

The correct response to the above question is international humiliation after the rape and murder/honor killing of two young girls. In one sense this is not a bad thing, India (and Indians) are sensitive to world opinion (aka colonial mentality). That said, we (personally speaking) are still ashamed to look ourselves in the mirror.

(b) We do not wish to sound ungrateful, but it will not be enough for TCS to provide funding for toilets, what is imperative is paying for long-term maintenance contracts. India is known for building great stuff, but when it comes to maintenance there is a serious deficit.

(c) The 100 crore, 10,000 schools quantum must be scaled up rapidly to a million school-toilets initiative. Attach a primary health-care center. Work with NGOs to ensure that teachers are teaching and the children are meeting the minimum reading, riting and rithmetic standards. A mid-day meal must be guaranteed. In our opinion these steps are necessary (but not sufficient) for a slow climbing out from the bottom of the barrel.

(d) There is no reason why the states (especially the prosperous ones) are unable to come up with independent initiatives. Every little will help. The time for excuses is over.

(e) We recommend chanting (and acting on) of this mantra a thousand times daily, it will set your conscience free : donations for toilets before temples!!!
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Country's largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Monday said it has pledged Rs 100 crore toward financing hygienic sanitation facilities for girl students across 10,000 schools.  ...........................

War-games on the border (shooting....but crying)

.....there wasn’t a single light...From the top of the mountain a light blinked as if giving out a signal....Were there any eyes focused upon us, wondering why we were standing so close to the river so late at night?...any soldiers wondering whether they will be able to take us down in one shot?.......
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We have (mostly) unhappy feelings about the border wars on the Line of Control....the shootings, the torture, the be-headings. The (anti-Zionist, Jewish-American) Norman Finkelstein calls the mindset of liberal Jews who find themselves perched on the fence as: shooting...but crying. Well, we do not like being on the fence, and we do not want to shoot and we do not enjoy crying.

Thousands of civilians, militants and military people on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) have died , some who are true believers, some who are only too happy to do their job and leave in time (and not in a casket), and the rest who live here and have no place to go...and are being driven slowly insane by the prolonged conflict (see below). And not to forget the shadow of the Bomb....there is no other border in the world which is as dangerous and deadly.....and also none as beautiful.
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We visited Kashmir when we were very young, but we will never visit the place again. There is no doubt that India (and Indians) are an oppressive force in the valley (on the lines of Gaza, Chechnya, Xinjiang...). When you feel hurt hearing the slogan: "Bhooka Nanga Hindustan, Jan Se Pyara Pakistan"...please reflect on what YOU would do if you lived in an occupied zone.

Of course Kashmiris are guilty of some unforgivable sins as well. If you are a Arundhati Roy fan, you may know that the India actually facilitated the expulsion/exile of the Pandits, in order to darken the (righteous) cause of Kashmiris.
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Immigration (good face, sad face)

.....Remittances from India....key role in making Scotland the most industrialised country by the mid-19th century....Dundee and Paisley were transformed by their trade in jute and textiles with India....a man has died after 35 people found in a shipping container....survivors from the Indian subcontinent....staff alerted by "screaming and banging" from inside...

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The "trade" between India and the United Kingdom in the colonial period was an euphemism for brutal exploitation. Indian manufacturing was destroyed by unfair tariffs in the UK. Thus "trade" consisted of India exporting raw materials (cotton, jute) at dirt prices and to buy English-Scottish finished goods (gunny bags, clothes) at high prices.

For thousands of years, India was known far and near as the promised land. First came the plundering armies, the missionaries followed, and not far behind were the "flood" of job-seeking immigrants. It was the promises of the Indian empire holdings (East India Company) that encouraged Scotland to forge and continue with a union pact with England (01 May 1707). Now that the charms of a captive foreign market is gone, Scotland finds the centuries old bonds to be an irritant (Scotland votes for partition-independence on September 18, 2014).
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The good face of colonialism we know: British gave us a sense of nationality (which was useful in the fight for freedom, many Scots played an important role), they taught us the first principles of democracy (which we are still learning to master) and all that.

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The sad face of colonialism....it is now considered bad form to speak about it. The Victorian Holocausts which knocked off large percentages of the population is a good place to start. If there is any one event that stands out that would be the Bengal famine of 1943 when 4.3 million people perished. While Indian merchants certainly stocked grains and contributed to the problems in supply, it was a British administration  that was responsible in a direct (as well as indirect) manner.

Now the bowl has upturned and immigrants plan to leave India for the West...anyhow.  Their desperation is such that they do not care that they may end up losing their lives.
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